A Fox Has Many Masks
by Agnew-San
Summary: Ichigo a fox hybrid, living with his master, has a dark past and a split personality. Byakuya, a wolf hybrid, is staying over for a few weeks. Will his curiosity make things worse for Ichigo or will Ichigo finally be able to tell someone about his past? This is an AU and not as serious as it sounds, there will be lots of embarrassing and funny situations
1. Chapter 1

AN: So this is a new story 'cause my other one got hi-jacked by my friend...

Warnings: This is a yoai and the rating may change as this story progresses.

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Lying in the middle of a cream fluffy carpet was an orange fox hybrid; he was on his back with his limbs spread out. He was wearing a large loose dark brown sweater and black shorts. A small squeaky toy was in his mouth between sharp canines, bliss was evident in his large chocolate brown eyes. He had bright orange spiky hair, two fox ears a few shades darker than his hair, were focused intently on his toy, which he was now throwing into the air and catching with clawed hands. A large fluffy fox tail, the same colour as his ears, was swishing around side by side on the floor. He was currently waiting for his master to come home, who had left earlier that day informing the fox that he would be back a little after lunch.  
As if on cue his ears twitch at the sound of a key unlocking the front door, he quickly sat up and ran to the door as it swung open to reveal a tall man with long silver white hair and a kind face, his warm brown eyes looking down at him. He was clothed in a white suit the jacket was over one arm of a forest green dress shirt, which was completed with a silver tie and dress shoes.  
"I'm home Ichigo. Did you miss me?" The tall man said as he petted the orange haired hybrid on the head. Ichigo leaned into the touch and closed his eyes enjoying the sensation, his tail wagging slightly.  
"Welcome home Ukitake-san." He answered with a small smile.  
"We have guests. This is the friend and his pet I was telling you about, they're going to be staying for a few weeks." Curious as to who would be staying Ichigo looked around his master; standing a couple of steps back from the door was a tall wolf hybrid. He had long black hair with slate grey eyes; black wolf ears were sitting relaxed on his head and a black feathered tail swinging through the air behind him. Everything about this hybrid seems stuck up. Even his clothes, black slacks, dress shoes and a long sleeved light grey turtle neck shirt. He was looking at Ichigo with an amused look in his eye, though his face showed no emotion.  
"What a good little pet you are, Ichigo." He said with a slight smirk. "Have you become a tamed little fox?"  
"Byakuya." Ichigo growled out as his ears press back against his head and his eyes seem to glow. "I will win this time for sure."  
"I'd like to see you try." Byakuya replied in a relaxed manner.  
As if sensing the anger emanating of Ichigo, Ukitake stepped in-between him and Byakuya. "Now Ichigo that is no way to treat our guests. They will be staying here for a while, so you have to learn to get along. Now please try and be nice."  
"No, not when he's being a jerk all the time." He points his finger at Byakuya from around Ukitake. "The only thing I will try and do is kill him."  
"Well, the next few weeks are defiantly going to be interesting, aren't they Juushiro?" A new voice asks from behind Byakuya. Ukitake just sighs at the question while Ichigo's ears perk up at the voice. A man with long wavy brown hair tied up in a ponytail, dark grey eyes and stubble. He was wearing a black suit with the jacket undone; a light pink dress shirt with the first few buttons undone could be seen under the jacket and dress shoes completed the whole attire.  
"Hello Kyoraku-san." Ichigo smiles at the man completely disregarding the conversation had just moments ago with Byakuya. He walks up to the tall man and Kyoraku pats him on the head. "How was your day?"  
"It was great, had lunch with Juushiro and Byakuya here, and we bumped into a couple old friends who we have invited over for a drinking party on Thursday. Is that alright with you?" He asks even though Ichigo's opinion will make no difference now.  
"Yeah, that should be fine since its Tuesday now, the house is pretty clean. So who is coming?" Ichigo asks.  
"Well some of their pets will be joining, so you and Byakuya won't be left to entertain yourselves." _No, now we just have to just have to entertain every other pet that's brought along,_ Ichigo thinks irritably. "We invited Aizen and his pets Grimmjow and Gin, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Shuuhei and his pet Izuru, Renji and his pet Rukia. Also Urahara and Yoruichi said that they will grace us with their presence along with their pet Soi Fon." Kyoraku answers with a cheery voice. "It's going to be a drinking party, so the house might not be so clean after woods." He winked.  
"Okay, well, I think we can move this discussion inside the house." Ukitake interrupts, motioning for everyone to move into the house. Ichigo bounds inside into the lounge room sitting back on the floor with his squeaky toy. The others followed Ukitake and Kyoraku sitting down on three-seat, light burgundy couch while Byakuya leans against the wall not far from the door.  
Byakuya has that same amusement in his eyes. "So you have become a house pet."  
Ichigo growls and throws the squeaky toy at Byakuya's head. "Jerk!"  
Byakuya laughs and picks up the toy and squeezed it. "You really are a child. You're never going to beat me if you're still playing with toys, boy."  
"Do you want to make a bet on that? I'll take you on right now." Ichigo stands up and gets into a fighting stance with his claws ready.  
"You have no hope in beating me at your current level. Check back in a hundred years and I may take you seriously, boy"  
Ichigo's ears flatten back against his skull while his tail puffs out to twice its normal size. Seeing red his pupils change shape to that of a foxes, he is about to leap at Byakuya to scratch his eyes out, when a hand grabs his jumper and pulls him back. Feeling a solid warmth on his back he looks up as strong arms wrap around his waist. Ukitake was looking down at him with soft brown eyes that contained a warning.  
"Ichigo. Calm down." Ukitake says firmly. Ichigo's pupils change back and he starts to calm down. He retracts his claws and leans back against Ukitake's warm chest, closing his eyes.  
"I'm sorry Ukitake-san; I don't really know what came over me." Ichigo likes being in Ukitake's arms, as he has a calming energy that seems to surround him that helps Ichigo when it comes to controlling his anger.  
"Okay, well how about going to your room and trying to sleep it off." Ichigo doesn't want to leave but knows not to defy Ukitake when he uses that tone of voice. Ukitake lets Ichigo go when he feels he's calm enough. Moving to leave Ichigo stops turns around and walks up to Byakuya. He looks like he's in some kind of trance and holds out his hand, he's looking at the squeaky toy in Byakuya's hand. Byakuya looks from Ichigo to the toy, from the toy to Ukitake, who nods, and back to Ichigo. He places the toy in Ichigo's hand who holds it to his chest and walks out to his bedroom.  
Byakuya looked at Ukitake. "What was that all about?"  
"Well, when Ichigo lets down his guard while he is in an angered state, a different personality will appear, his eyes will turn to that of a foxes. It's his animal instinct; Ichigo can never remember what happens when he gets too far into that state. I don't know much about it; only Ichigo can tell you what is going on in his head at that time. He has never told me and I don't push him in telling me."  
Byakuya thought on this for a minute, _I guess I should stop teasing the kid, but he's so fun to tease. Maybe I won't tease him as much.  
_"So, I'm going to go and get our bags, where do you want me to put them Juushiro?" Kyoraku asked crudely but affectively changing the subject.  
"I'll show you before you leave to get your bags. Come, follow me." Ukitake left the room through the same way Ichigo left. He walked down the corridor opening door to the right that revealed another corridor. Walking a little further he stopped in front of two doors next to each other.  
"This room is yours, Byakuya." He pointed to left the room, then to the right room. "And this one is yours, Shunsui."  
"Man, it still amazes me how big your house is." Kyoraku mused.  
"Where does Ichigo sleep?" Byakuya asked.  
"He gets the top floor; it's not as big as the bottom level that we are on. It's really just one big room with a bathroom attached. He has to come down here to eat, but he spends most of his time down here waiting for me to get back from work and such. He also usually sleeps with me, rather than up there. He likes having all that space to himself, but he always tells me he enjoys my company a lot more." He smiles warmly.  
"You spoil him too much, Juushiro." He says that, but doesn't want anything to change, his friend is happy which is important to him and in turn that makes him happy.

* * *

Byakuya had been wandering down corridor after endless corridor, completely and utterly lost. Apparently not even being a hybrid helped when it came to navigating this house. He had made a wrong turn a while back and hadn't managed to find his way back yet; although he had found a music room, an art room, a small library, a few study rooms, many unoccupied bedrooms and even a small theatre room.  
"This place is huge, where am I?" He keeps walking and turns yet into another corridor. He stops as he hears some sounds on the other side of the wall, his ears twitching trying to pinpoint the exact location. _What is that? _He hears the sound again, he feels around the wall for anything that might be making that sound. He hears the sound even louder, it sounds like feet scuffling on the floor. He's about to give up, as the wall comes out, smashing into his face knocking him back flat onto the floor.  
Ichigo steps out of the opening and trips over Byakuya's feet and lands on top of him, he looks down and his eyes widening as his ears flick forward at attention, he sits up. "What the hell are you doing on the floor? Fucking hell, I could have died tripping over your clumsy arse, jerk."  
"Ah, Ichigo, always a pleasure bumping into you." Byakuya says as he rubs his forehead where the, wall? Door? Hit him.  
"Shut up. What are you doing here, anyway?" Ichigo says, though Byakuya doesn't get up.  
"Oh, I'm just admiring the view." Byakuya smirks and winks at Ichigo.  
Ichigo looked down at himself; he was straddling Byakuya's hips with his tail draped over the man's legs. He was still wearing those shorts, but instead of his loose sweater he was wearing a tight white singlet. He blush's and scrabbles to his feet. He has a towel around his neck and a bag with a change of clothes over his shoulder.  
Byakuya looks at him confused. "What are you doing?" He asks with a nod at the bundle in Ichigo's arms.  
"Hm? Oh! I was going to have a quick shower before dinner. What about you? Why are you here?" Ignoring the question Byakuya gets to his feet avoiding eye contact, his wolf ears sliding back in discomfort, seeing this Ichigo smirks. Getting an idea on what has happened. "You're lost, aren't you?"  
"I don't know what you're talking about." Byakuya refuses to let Ichigo know that he is right; his pride would hurt if that were to happen  
"Well if you don't know what I'm talking about then you should be able to find your way back without any help." With that Ichigo turns to walk away. The wolf's eyes widen at the thought of being lost for god knows how long until someone else finds him or actually managing to find his way back, pride be damned.  
"Ichigo!" Turning back at the sound of his name the fox looks up in interest.  
"Hm?"  
"Would you, um… could you show me the way back?"  
"What was that? I didn't hear you?" Ichigo's smirk grows as Byakuya just glares at him until he rolls his eyes and turns away. "This way," With a gesture to follow him Ichigo walks off down the corridor in the opposite direction. The taller of the two follows silently giving up in his vague attempt to memorise the route that they are taking, he's more interested in the fox before him.  
Not even a minute later Ichigo stops, "If you go down to the end of this corridor and through that door," he point to the door at the very end of the corridor, "You will be in the kitchen, Kyoraku-san and Ukitake-san should be in there." Ichigo turns towards a different door and exits leaving Byakuya alone in the corridor as he offers a quiet 'thank you'.  
Byakuya pauses with his hand on the door handle, a frown marring his face as a thought occurs to him. _Why was Ichigo going to a bathroom down stairs when he had one in his room upstairs? Also, what was he doing coming out of the wall like that? Or was it a door of some sort? _Putting the thoughts to the back of his mind to think about later the wolf opens the door, finding that Ichigo was right about the door leading to the kitchen and about both of their masters being in the room.  
Hearing the door open both men look towards the noise, Ukitake is at the stove cooking when he frowns confused as to why Byakuya was coming in through the door and Kyoraku who is sitting at the table with a cup of tea, just smiles.  
"Where have you been, Byakuya?" Kyoraku asks amused about something. Said hybrid mutters something unintelligible under his breath taking the seat to the left across from Kyoraku.  
"I didn't quiet catch that. Could you say that again a bit louder?" Byakuya glares at his master for teasing him witch only causes him to laugh.  
"You seem quite confident to where I have been, even though I haven't said anything, why is that Kyoraku?" Byakuya looks at him with a raised eyebrow.  
Kyoraku just coughs and mumbles 'none of your business.'  
"That's what I thought."  
Ukitake burst out laughing, until tears were coming to his eyes. "That's a touchy subject for him Byakuya, it hurt his pride. It was a day I will never forget."  
"Juushiro you say anything, I will personally see to your end."  
"Okay, I won't." He walks over to Byakuya as Kyoraku goes back to his tea. "I'll tell you another day."  
"Deal." He silently laughs to himself, when he was suddenly hit with this strong smell of something being burnt. He turns back to where Ukitake was cooking and saw something he never thought that he was going to see again. "What is that?"  
"That?" Ukitake looks to where he was once standing. "Oh, that's dinner, why?"  
"Because that doesn't seem like it was made by human hands."  
Ukitake's about to say something when his eyes open wide, closing his mouth. Suddenly there was the sound of feet marching along the floor boards, coming closer to the kitchen. The door was banged open and Ichigo came running into the room with a frown of his beautiful face, hair and tail still dripping wet, his clothes were slightly messy as well as wet, by the looks of it he got out of the shower and just chucked his clothes on, which was a white shirt, now see through, and a pair of blue track pants. There were wet footprints behind him from where he came running.  
"Ukitake-san what do you think you are doing?" He says in a highly irritated voice, looking at Ukitake with an accusing glare.  
Ukitake just gives Ichigo a cute sheepish look. "I thought I would give cooking another try." He tries innocently.  
"Ukitake-san you know, as well as I do, that you cannot cook."  
"But I had a good feeling about it today." He smiles as Ichigo starts to go into a rage; Ukitake catches the look that crosses Ichigo's eyes. He walks over and gives Ichigo a warm hug. "I'm sorry Ichigo, I wanted to surprise you. Sorry, please calm down, next time I'll wait for you."  
Ichigo relaxes into Juushiro's arms and his eyes glaze over again as he starts to breath normally. "It's fine, you had good intentions. Please just don't try cooking again anytime soon and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap." Ichigo apologises, Ukitake gives him a concerned look. "I'm alright now." He looked down at himself as Ukitake let him go. "I better get changed." He looked at Ukitake again and noticed that his clothes are wet. "Oh, I'm sorry; I got your clothes wet. You better get change too." He looks to Byakuya and Kyoraku. "Will you two please watch the food?" He doesn't wait for an answer as he walks out the room pulling Ukitake along with him; he misses the glance that Byakuya and Kyoraku give each other, they proceed to look at the burning food still on the stove with expressions that are close to dread and horror.  
"What do we do now?" Kyoraku asks eyeing the food like it's a poisonous reptile that will bite if he gets to close, while Byakuya seems to be trying to glare it to death.  
_Well shit, we're screwed._ Byakuya sighs turning from his master to the stove.

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AN: I hope you like XD Please tell me what you think. This story will be like my other one where I will try to update once a month.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Here is Chapter 2, Enjoy!

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**Chapter 2**

Turns out that they didn't have dinner that night because when Ichigo and Ukitake walked back into the kitchen it looked like a disaster area. There was food on the walls, floor, benches and appliances around the stove; it looked like someone had set off some sort of bomb in that area of the kitchen and what was left of the food was burnt beyond repair. Ichigo couldn't believe that any person or persons in this case, could do something like this to a kitchen. He walked past the two men into the room ranting about how incompetent they all were and why was it that he; the youngest was the only one that knows how to cook.  
Byakuya and Kyoraku looked like they just gotten out of a battle, they had cuts, abrasions and burns. Byakuya's usual perfect hair was now a wreak, while Kyoraku managed to burn his brown beard to black. Their clothes where messy, singed and splattered with food.  
Ichigo sat them down at the table while still pacing the room and proceeded to lecture them even louder than before. Roughly half an hour later he sent all three men to bed without any food. They all left the kitchen in a hurry with empty stomachs as Ichigo got to work on cleaning the kitchen.  
Ukitake came back into the kitchen close to three and a half hours later to cheek in on Ichigo; he did check Ichigo's room first and didn't see him in there. He walked into the kitchen and found Ichigo curled up in a chair at the table of a spotlessly clean kitchen, his head resting on his crossed arms; the orange ears on top of his head were relaxed in a downward position while his tail was curled protectively around him. Ukitake walked over to Ichigo and picked him up in his arms and carried him to his room and tucked him under the covers of his bed, Ukitake slipped in beside him with a fond smile.  
"You've gone and worked yourself to the point of exhaustion, again."

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Ichigo woke up slowly, blanketed in delicious warmth, content to just stay where he was and not move for a long time. As he awoke he looked around and saw that he was no longer in the kitchen and he was clearly no longer at the same chair and table as he was laying on something really soft, hell it clearly wasn't even the same room. His face was pressed against a warm, flat surface and when he tried to move away; he found he could only move so far because an equally warm limb had been thrown over his waist affectively securing him in place. His fox ears twitch at the sudden sigh of warm air against them, he shifted his head and his ears brushed against the arm above his head, cluing him to the fact that he is being held by someone and he only feels safe enough with one person to allow them this close. Opening his eyes he sees strands of long silver white hair, confirming he already knew. _Ukitake-san must have moved me from the kitchen to his bed last night. _Ichigo smile lightly at the thought burrowing deeper into to his master's chest.  
A couple of minutes later he shifts back while tilting his back to stare at defined sleeping features of the older man's face. Allowing his mind to wander Ichigo's eyes drifts to the ceiling, as he started to turns his attention back to Ukitake his eyes landed on the shelf above the bed. Ichigo looked at Ukitake then back at the shelf again.  
_I wonder. Will he see me this time? _He looked at Ukitake and said in low voice. "Ukitake-san… Ukitake-san." He waited a beat then did his best to wiggle out of his master's arms; he put his hand on the headboard and stretched with feline grace to reach his hand over the edge.  
His fingers had just brushed a box before he heard Ukitake's voice come out low and dangerous. "Ichigo." He practically growled it out.  
Ichigo froze, his ears flattening back against his skull and stopped what he was doing; he looked down at Ukitake who still had his arms around him which tightened. Looking into his master's eyes seeing the same look that he would always have when Ichigo did this, it was a look of disappointment and of sadness. Ukitake trusted his to not go looking in the box which had said fox hybrids' name on it.  
Whenever Ichigo saw that look in his eyes he was filled with the feeling of immense guilt, he looked down when he felt a hand that was now tugging his shirt to bring him back down onto the bed to sit. He hated seeing that expression in Ukitake's eyes, but whenever he saw that box he always had the urge to open it and look inside.  
"I'm sorry, Ukitake-san." Ichigo said as tears started to form in his eyes. He really hated to hurt Ukitake all the time; he knew that just being there must have burdened him in some way.  
Ukitake sighed as he closed his eyes. "Ichigo, we've talked about this before." He says and opens dark brown eyes to look at him.  
Ichigo looked away and a tear fell from his eye. "I'm sorry." His voice comes out soft and pained.  
Squirming suddenly Ichigo breaks free from Ukitake's arms and runs out of the room down the hallway. Darting into a bathroom he shuts the behind him and he slides down the door to the floor sitting with his back against the door. Bringing his legs up to his chest he wraps arms around his knees. He sits there silently contemplating how to get back on his master's good side.  
Back in the bedroom Ukitake sighs running a hand down his face as he listens to Ichigo's fading footsteps. Groaning softly he rolls over on to his other side contemplating what just happened, he had known Ichigo was going to try and make a play for the box again soon, as hadn't tried for a couple of months. It's just that he was so tired last night that he didn't even remember the fox's curiosity as to find out what's in the box, so he didn't think twice about letting Ichigo sleep in his room. Groaning again Ukitake turns onto his back, throwing an arm over his eyes and resolves to think about this later as it was far too early to be mulling over something so serious. With that though he settles in more comfortably on the bed and drift back into sleeps clutches.  
Staying in the bathroom for close to twenty minutes Ichigo comes up with an idea, his ears perking up at the thought. Standing up the fox hybrid makes his way to the kitchen, hoping to pick up on a certain wolf's scent. Picking up on said scent outside of the room, Ichigo finds the smell to be quite pleasant and unique. Byakuya had the sweet smell of cherry blossoms with the hidden fresh smell of fresh rain that was his natural scent, which complimented each other quite nicely.  
Shaking his head Ichigo races off following the scent to the room in which the wolf is currently sleeping in. Opening the door he sticks his head in peering into the darkness, barely seeing an outline of the bed and person within the sheets. From here Ichigo can tell that Byakuya has his back to the door and he silently whispers said man's name. After getting absolutely no reaction from the man he slips into the room, leaving the door open behind him, he takes a few steps into the room and says Byakuya's name again only this time a little louder than before. Getting no reaction again he gets a little miffed. _Maybe I'm not being loud enough. _He takes a couple more steps standing next to the bed and says the name louder. Frowning he climbs onto the bed as his ears flick back, putting a hand on the other side of Byakuya's head, he bends over and gets really close to his ear.  
Lowering his voice and making it deeper, with his lips almost touching the wolf hybrids fluffy ear and whispers again. "Byakuya."  
Byakuya shivers and wakes with a start, growling he reaches up and grabs Ichigo's shoulders, flipping them. When the wolf opened his eyes and saw the wide chocolate brown pools staring up at him in surprise, he instantly jumped from the bed and landed on his feet on the hard wooden floor.  
His cheeks started to colour a light shade of red as he gazed down at Ichigo spread out on his bed, he gasped and looked away as the fox hybrid looked at him with a confused look.  
"Byakuya? What's wrong?" He asked with an innocent and naïve look on his face. The wolf berated himself for having unsavoury thought's going through his head about the younger hybrid.  
"Nothing. What are you doing in here anyway?" He watches Ichigo, sitting back down on the bed.  
"Well, I wanted to cook Ukitake-san breakfast but because of last night there is no usable food, so I can't. I need to go down to the convenience store-"  
"I don't see what this has to do with me and you being in here." Byakuya interrupts him, irritated that he wasn't getting to the point.  
"I was getting to that. Seeing as this problem is partly your fault you are going to come with me to carry the bags." He says with a glare at Byakuya for interrupting him. "Also, I need help finding the money." Sitting up Ichigo slides to the edge of the bed and gets to his feet.  
"What do you mean you need help finding the money?" This is asked in confusion.  
"Ukitake-san usually puts the money somewhere and forgets about it, so it gets left to me to find it."  
"Are you trying to tell me that this is what you woke me up for?" He turns and glares at Ichigo.  
"What do you mean? Both you and Kyoraku-san are to blame, so you have to help me."  
"So, why not go and wake up Kyoraku?" Genuine annoyance painting his features.  
"I respect Kyoraku-san a hell of a lot more than I do you." A blank look is all Ichigo receives.  
Byakuya just ignored that statement as his wolf ears fall back and went over to his suitcase to go through his clothes. "Fine, just get out so I can changed." He was slightly pissed by what Ichigo said. His back is turned to the fox so he doesn't see said fox's expression darken and his ears droop before he leaves the room, shutting the door behind him with a quiet click. Looking through the suitcase the wolf picks out a pair of faded blue jeans and a white button up long sleeved shirt. After changing, making the bed and placing his folder pyjamas at the end of the bed he runs a brush through his hair and exits the room heading to the kitchen. Arriving at the kitchen he finds Ichigo leaning against the counter in black cargo pants and a purple loose hoody. Ichigo looks up when he hears Byakuya enter the room and rakes his eyes up and down the wolf's body, causing said wolf to smirk when he notices the gaze.  
"Right, so now we have to find the money." Ichigo straightens and turns away, embarrassed at being caught staring.  
"Any idea as to where it will be?"  
"Nope, no idea. It could seriously be anywhere, a couple of times I've found the money in places like the bathroom cabinet, Ukitake-san's desk drawer in his study, heck even in a DVD case."  
"Right, well then I guess we better start looking. Do you want to start in the lounge room, while I check in here?" Byakuya nodded and left the kitchen. After close to fifteen minutes of searching Byakuya walks back into the kitchen to see Ichigo absently pull open the door to the freezer.  
"You have got to be kidding me!" Raising an eye brow he watches as Ichigo reaches a hand into the freezer and pulls something out, turning around to show him the money.  
"I'm not going to ask." He remarks more to himself.  
"Good, cause I wouldn't be able to answer that. So, you ready to go?" Ichigo asks this as he fiddles with a frozen note, another defrosting on the counter next to him.  
"Where exactly are we going?" Ichigo looks up from the money at this.  
"Hm? Oh, there is a 24 hour convenience store a couple of blocks from here." Byakuya follows him out of the kitchen to the front door where they stop and put shoes on. Keys in one hand, money in a zip-lock bag in the other both hybrids exit the house leaving an almost eerie silence in their wake. As its not far off 6:30, the sun is sitting just above horizon and can't really be seen but is light enough to coat everything in warm sunshine. This also means that next to no one is up and yet, there is the occasional early morning walker or jogger and early riser leaving to drive to work.  
The walk to the store was silent, but surprisingly enough it was a relatively comfortable silence as both hybrids were lost in their own thoughts. Ichigo was thinking about different breakfast foods that Ukitake likes, the ingredients involved and how much it would cost, while Byakuya's thoughts were border lining dangerously cute on the subject of Ichigo, food and aprons. Of course if anyone figured this out he would probably just glare at them until they began to fear for their own life. Breaking away from his thoughts the wolf hybrid looks up as they walk through automatic sliding doors and get blasted in the face by a wave of cold air conditioned air, making the store significantly colder than the soft warmth of outside. Stopping briefly Ichigo grabs a plastic shopping basket, gives it to Byakuya and gets another one for himself. Wandering down the aisles he absently picks up things, placing them into the different baskets as he sees fit. Two loaves of bread, a packet of buns, a carton of a dozen eggs, strawberries and a bunch of bananas end up in the basket he is carrying. While Byakuya ended up with two bags of rice, two bottles of milk, a packet of bacon and three pre-cut pieces of fish. Following the fox to the counter they place all the shopping on the counter, a white haired teenager wearing grey converses, black slacks and a blue company button up shirt; puts down the book he was reading and begins scanning the items. Stacking the baskets on the floor at the end of the counter Ichigo looks up and smiles slightly.  
"Hi Toshiro, how are you?" He asks while he helps pack the food into plastic bags. Toshiro looks up and glares at the fox, his turquoise eyes flashing.  
"How many times must I say that it's Hitsugaya to you?" The teen growls.  
"I know. Oh, by the way this is Byakuya, he and Ukitake-san's friend; Kyoraku-san will be staying for a couple of weeks." Introducing Byakuya Ichigo completely ignores what Toshiro said.  
"Nice to meet you." Toshiro greets.  
"Likewise." The wolf offers this with a nod. Before anything else can be said a voice shouts from the back of the store.  
"Toshiro! What have I said about the air conditioner?" The voice is male and highly irritated.  
"It's Hitsugaya! And I don't care it was hot in here." The man that rounds the corner of the isle furthest from them has straight jaw length blond hair and brown eyes, he is wearing the same blue company button up shirt as Toshiro, grey trousers and black lace up shoes.  
"I wasn't even gone fifteen minutes and you try to freeze the store." Both shop employees seem to be completely absorbed in arguing with each other to notice the looks of amusement and annoyance on their customers faces. The white haired male opens his mouth to retort back.  
"Hello Shinji." Ichigo interrupts the frigid teen before he can say anything as he looks just about ready to explode. Grumbling something under his breath about 'idiotic managers' and the 'bloody heat' Toshiro goes back to scanning items. The blond looked in Ichigo's direction when he heard his name and blinked in surprised when saw Byakuya with Ichigo. He'd met the hybrid when they were both younger and a lot more reckless one of the things that hadn't changed was the fact that Shinji, along with a few others loved to tease the wolf hybrid to the point where he would either explode in anger or be a blushing mess, depending on what they were teasing about.  
"Ichigo, Byakuya good to see you again. How have you been?" The man gives them a smile that can only be described as creepy. Smiling back hesitantly Ichigo replies that he is fine while Byakuya just ignores the man. Toshiro taps chigo's arm and holds his hand out in an expectant way, frowning the fox glances at the screen realising that the teen has finished scanning and packing all the groceries. Fishing around in his hoodie pocket Ichigo takes the zip-lock bag out and hands it over, grimacing when he sees the condition of the money. He offers a sheepish smile when he sees the odd looks the shop employees are giving him.  
"Freezer." Is all he says as he places a hand behind his head in a bashful manner. Toshiro just rolls his eyes, placing the money still in the bag next to the till, counting out the necessary change while Shinji has a contemplating expression.  
"Well, it could have been worse; at least we know that it's only water." He says this as the wolf hybrid moves around the other and begins to gather some of the plastic shopping bags.  
"You're right about that. Anyway we should be going now, have to get back home." Turning he finds Byakuya already walking out the sliding doors. "Hey! Wait!" He shouts quickly getting the bags left he runs out after the male.  
"Bye Ichigo." Shinji calls to the retreating figure, stopping briefly at the call Ichigo turns and awkwardly waves one of the bags at them before disappearing after the wolf.  
"As I was saying, you can't change the temperature of the air conditioner whenever you feel like it. Toshiro, are you even listening to me?!" Ichigo smirks at this as he falls into step next to the other male. The return trip is made in a comfortable silence again and they get back to the house in roughly a few minutes after the time it took them to walk to the store.  
After wrestling with the door for a minute and nearly dropping everything in the process Ichigo pushes the door with his shoulder only to stumble through and place everything on the step, so as not to drop anything. Sitting down near the bags Ichigo takes his shoes off and watches Byakuya do the same before picking up his keys and placing them on the stand near the door. Picking up the bags again both hybrids head to the kitchen and place the bags on the counter. The strawberries, bananas and milk end up in the fridge; the bread and buns are put away on the counter while everything else is left out for breakfast. Ichigo sets about getting the rice on.  
"Would you like me to do anything?" Byakuya ask finally breaking the silence the two had encased themselves in. Placing the pot of rice on the stove to boil, the younger turns with an incredulous look on his face.  
"Really? After what happened last night, I'm not likely to trust you with anything in the kitchen."  
"That was hardly my fault." He grumbles looking away with a light blush. Smirking the fox wishes just briefly for a camera.  
"I suppose I can trust you with watching over the rice while I get everything else ready." After getting everything else ready Ichigo sits at the table with his head on his arms to wait for the rice to cook. Sitting back down Byakuya watches as the younger of the two falls into a light sleep, getting up every now and then to check the rice only to go back to watching the younger sleep.  
Sighing he gets up again seeing that the rice was nearly done he leans across the table and gently gripping Ichigo's shoulder he shakes the younger awake. Scrunching his face up Ichigo lifts his head from his arms, opening bleary eyes he spots Byakuya straightening up the hand on his shoulder disappearing.  
"The rice is nearly cooked." He blinks a couple of times before the words register in his mind, nodding to the other he gets up making his way over to the stove.  
"Would you mind getting Kyoraku-san and Ukitake-san up?" When Ichigo doesn't get an answer he looks behind him finding that he is the only one in the kitchen.  
All three men walk back into the kitchen just as Ichigo is setting plates of a stir-fry type dish on the table with cutlery already set out. Both of the older males have their hair tied back in loose ponytails and are dressed in every day house clothes.  
"Good timing." He smiles as they walk over and take a seat at the table. Ukitake and Byakuya are on one side with Ichigo sitting across from Ukitake and Kyoraku across from Byakuya. Everyone says their respective thankyous. Breakfast is a relatively quiet affair the occasional conversation popping up here and there.  
"What are we going to do today?" Kyoraku asks after everyone had finished eating and the table had been cleared. Ukitake looks at his friend.  
"Well I have finish some last minute work from the office, that should only take a couple of hours and after that I'm free for the rest of the day." An exasperated expression flicking across his face.  
"Since we have people coming over tomorrow I need to clean areas of the house and there a still a few things we need food and drink wise, so if someone could get that today or tomorrow before anyone arrives that would be very much appreciated." Ichigo looks at Ukitake knowing he will most likely be the one to go out and get the thing he needs for tomorrow and their guests.  
"I'm sure we can find something to entertain ourselves." Byakuya is the one who speaks up this time drawing everyone's attention to him. Kyoraku suddenly smiles.  
"Why don't you help Ichigo with the cleaning?" All he receives is a blank look from the older hybrid. "He's quite good, everything has to be neat and clean at home."  
"Meaning he does all the house work. Why am I not surprise?" Ukitake comments with a sigh.  
"Well, I could do with the help, if you want to that is." At the nod he receives Ichigo continues, "I was going to start on the kitchen, before moving onto the lounge room and after that the bathroom. Also, the washing if anyone has some." The two younger males set to working out who will do what and when they figure that out everything falls silent again.  
"Well, while you all go off and do your stuff I'm going to sit in the sun." Kyoraku comments with a grin, meaning he will annoy the hell out of his friend until he kicked out of the room. With that everyone leaves, off to do their separate tasks.

* * *

AN: Umm, I think that's it. Sorry not much happened... And towards the end probably seems rushed as well. Tell me what you think? Please?


End file.
